Memory Lane
by fitzybeag
Summary: Downton characters as children! Anna, Thomas, Gwen, Ethel, Branson, William and Daisy meet the Crawley sisters under different circumstances...  Please review!  CHAPTER 2 UP
1. Chapter 1

A series of hurried knocks sounded on the back door.

The Smith family looked up worriedly from their breakfast, but young Anna knew that knock from a mile away.

"Can I please go out, Pa?" she pleaded, jumping up from the table, "I've already cleaned the stove and –"

Mr Smith laughed, waving a hand dismissively. "Go on, girl. And tell Gwen she'll owe us a new door if she keeps going on like that!"

Her parents were never too tough on her growing up, which she thanked God for. Although the Smiths' life was far from luxurious, they worked hard and could afford a comfortable home. Mr Smith, an honest farmer who believed in clean living, took pride in the thought that he had never let either of his children feel the pangs of hunger, which many of the local children experienced on a daily basis.

"Thanks, Pa," she grinned, fixing her hair in a cracked mirror before running out of the cottage.

"You don't think she has a beau, do you?" her father asked anxiously, half considering sending one of the farm hands after her.

Mrs Smith placed a loving hand on her husband's tense arm. "Leave her be. She won't be young for long, you know."

OoOoO

Anna and Gwen pranced down the drive, arms linked. All that surrounded them for miles and miles were roaring fields and the odd farmhouse. Neither girl could imagine a life anywhere else.

Waiting further down the lane was Ethel, William, a large, furry sheepdog and boy she had never seen before. William, always the gentleman, stepped forward to introduce the newcomer. "Anna, this is Branson. He's just moved over from Ireland. His dad's working on the Nelsons' farm."

"How's it going, Anna?" Branson greeted, touching his cap.

Ethel, who couldn't stand still for more than ten seconds, was already walking ahead. "Come on, then! Let's walk into town; I'm sick of this place!"

Gwen threw a knowing glance over at Anna. Both girls knew Ethel was just showing off in front of Branson, as she did with every other boy.

"Alright, then," shrugged Anna, flattening down her dress. "We'll call for Daisy and Thomas on the way."

Ethel, who had previously stormed on ahead, was now hanging back, clinging onto the young Irishman like he was the last male on Earth.

"So what do you do for fun around here, race sheep?" he joked, squirming slightly away from Ethel.

She burst into a fit of giggles. "You're so funny! Have you ever thought of a career onstage?"

Anna, Gwen and William observed the two from behind, exchanging exasperated looks. They all knew how silly Ethel could be.

"You're quiet, William," noted Anna, elbowing the younger boy playfully in the ribs.

"Thinking about a girl, are you?" giggled Gwen. They were playing of course – William was simply always the quiet one. He blushed and scratched his sheepdog's bushy mane.

"What about you, Anna?" prodded Gwen, always looking for a bit of excitement, "What would you be looking for in a man?"

She barely had to think before answering. She and Gwen had been discussing such questions since birth. "Older, taller and mysterious. I like a man with a past," she winked.

OoOoO

The gang stopped off outside Thomas' home, and William ran to the door. Thomas' father, an extremely solemn, religious man, was a clockmaker, and some said that the only sound to be heard in the place was the ticking of various clocks. The rest of the gang supposed Thomas saved his nastiness and noise for them.

Immerging from the cottage, Thomas stopped and took a long hard look at Branson. "Who's the Paddy?"

Branson stiffened a little.

"Come on, Thomas, there's no need to talk like that," sighed Anna. As the eldest of the group, she often felt like the mother.

"Tom Branson," the Irishman said icily.

"Coming over here taking our jobs, no doubt." Thomas didn't even look at him as he spoke the words.

"Our jobs?" echoed Gwen, "What is it you work as again, Thomas?"

He lit a cigarette as they walked on. "Anything that will get me the hell out of this place."

OoOoO

The last stop before the village of Downton was little Daisy's home. She was the youngest of the group, and everyone in the area seemed to adore her. No one, however, dared to call to her door.

It was surprising that the derelict cottage managed to fit all the eleven children it contained. One window was boarded up and the other was smashed through. The front door always seemed to be swung open on its hinges, releasing the shrieks of babies inside. Finally, Anna picked up the courage and ventured up to the noisy, crumbling house. Daisy came running out, no shoes on her feet and grime staining her face. She was greeted warmly by the group, and as they continued on, she and William trailed behind. Although he was a few years older, they were terribly fond of each other.

Thomas, as if sensing an opportunity to upset someone in the group, stopped in his tracks in front of Daisy. Almost double her height, Daisy looked up at him with frightened, though somewhat impressed, eyes. "Daisy, just the girl I was looking for! What do you think of these Paddy's coming over here for work?"

She hadn't understood a word that had come out of the older boy's mouth.

"See, these foreigners are coming over taking our jobs," he continued, "Branson here is the reason your dad's out of work!"

She tilted her head in confusion, looking over at the reddening Branson.

Ethel, being Ethel, sniggered and swung over onto Thomas' arm. "Thomas, the reason her dad's out of work is because he's a drunken beggar who can't keep a job!"

Anna had simply had enough. Children were cruel, but there had to be a limit. "Daisy, come here, pet. Don't listen to them." She threw an arm around her miniature companion. Daisy herself hadn't a clue what was happening, but liked a bit of attention from Anna.

William, now left walking alone with his collie, clenched his fists. One day he'd be brave, he promised himself. One day he'd stand up against Thomas.

OoOoO

Upon reaching the village, they discovered it to be just as unexciting as the farmland. They hadn't a penny between them, so there was no chance of popping down to the shop for a bag of sweets.

"How about we play a game?" Gwen suggested.

"A game?" echoed Thomas, disgusted. "I'd rather die than play a game with you lot."

"Good riddance, then." Gwen turned her attention to everyone but Thomas. "How about we play Dares?"

That was greeted well, even by William's collie, who let out a tiny bark.

"Branson, I dare you to give Thomas a proper thumping," offered Anna, smiling. Branson was all up for that, judging by his grin.

"I've an idea!" piped Daisy, jumping up from the ground. "Why don't we all sneak into the Queen's house?"

Everyone exchanged puzzled looks.

"But, Daisy, she lives in London!"

The little girl shook her head defiantly. "No she doesn't! My big brother told me she lives in that huge castle, just outside Downton!"

"Downton Abbey?" exclaimed William. "That's where Lord Grantham lives! We'd be hung for trespassing over there!"

Gwen couldn't help but get excited. Her stomach was a cage of butterflies, itching for some fun. "Well, Anna. What do you say?"

"I don't know, it sounds dangerous."

"I call a vote!" announced Ethel. "All in favour of sneaking in – raise your hand now."

Everyone's scrawny hand was lifted, apart from a cautious William and a responsible Anna.

"William, don't be a bloody chicken," sighed Thomas. William's hand shot up before he could stop himself.

Anna threw her hand back and groaned. "You lot will be the death of me one day…"

Together, they set off for Downton Abbey.


	2. Chapter 2

The six children and their dog stood under the safe shade of a grouping of trees, examining the manor before them from a distance. They had all seen breathtaking things in their time, but this took the cake.

Surrounded by acres of fresh, manicured lawn, the colossal castle looked as though it was made of solid gold in the sunlight.

"There must be a million people living in there!" stammered Daisy, in awe.

"Just Lord and Lady Grantham and their daughters. And the staff, of course," William informed her.

"Seems like a bit of a waste, doesn't it?" murmured Gwen, her eyes floating over the hundreds of windows. "And the amount of cleaning a place like that would need…"

"The staff in these places are all the same – spineless boot kissers who will never amount to anything in their sorry lives," Thomas muttered, stamping out a cigarette.

"I don't think it's too bad a job," frowned William.

"Then become a bloody footman, see where that gets you."

Before William could summon up the courage to come back with a witty retort, a sound from behind startled them all half to death.

Spinning around, Anna looked down to find a ball that had bounced off a tree startlingly close to her head. Chasing after it, and coming their way, was a young Labrador, followed by three girls.

Before Ethel could even try to let out one of her dramatic squeals, they were spotted

"Look, Mary, there's someone in the trees up ahead!" yelled a young fair haired girl in a frilly, summer frock.

There was no time to run now –the gang was many things but cowards weren't one of them.

The Labrador approached them not half as cautiously as the girls did.

"Excuse me!" declared Mary, the tallest girl. "What on Earth do you think you're doing on our property?"

The gang was speechless. They'd never heard a young girl speak in such a highly bred accent.

Anna took it on herself to do the talking. She didn't even want to imagine someone like Thomas, or even Daisy trying to reason with the upper class girls.

"I'm awfully sorry. We were out on a walk and we got a bit…."

"Distracted? Yes, that's one word for it." She turned around to the fair-haired girl. "Edith, take Sybil and go find Mr Carson."

"Please, we don't want to cause any trouble," pleaded Anna, her nerves rising.

Mary ignored her. "Edith – I said go and find Carson!"

Sybil, the smallest out of the three of them stepped forward. Like the oldest, she had long dark hair and deep brown eyes. "Stop being such a tell-tale, Mary," she groaned, half embarrassed.

Daisy caught sight of something in the girl's hands and her eyes suddenly grew wide. "Is that…is that real?"

Sybil looked down at her favourite porcelain doll. The doll was sporting a large hat and a gleaming mass of luscious brown locks. Her dress was intricately designed and the frills folded down past her feet. Never mind the house – that doll was the most beautiful thing Daisy had seen in her life.

Sybil let out a warm-hearted giggle. "No, of course not! It's my doll, Amelia. You can hold her if you like."

Daisy didn't dare budge. She couldn't even bring herself to open her mouth.

It seemed Mary had forgotten for a moment that they were trespassers, and stared at the undernourished little girl in wonder. "Have you not seen a porcelain doll before?"

There was an awkward moment of silence, and no one quite knew what to say.

"I've a skipping rope."

Mary furrowed her brow, confused. "I beg your pardon?"

Daisy grew redder and redder as she went on. "I mean, I've a rope. For skipping and the like. Me and my younger sister share it, but it's mine mostly."

"I have to share one of my doll's with Edith, too!" exclaimed Sybil, happy to have found someone sharing a similar dilemma. "She always takes her for the whole week, even though she should only have her for half that time!"

"You mean, you have even more dolls?" Gwen was getting drawn in too.

"Oh, yes! I'll show you all! Come inside!"

"Sybil, you can't invite strangers into our home! They could be spies, or anything!" Mary anxiously warned her.

Thomas, for the first time in his life, had nothing witty or down casting to say. In fact, he was speechless in the presence of such an aristocratic family.

"I don't care! It's better than spending the day stuck out here with you!"

Edith gasped, as though she had never heard such profanity. "Sybil! Mama will wash out your tongue with vinegar if she hears you speaking in that manner!"

Anna was lost in the midst of all this talk of dolls and spies. She was unusually down-to-earth, in control. Now, however, she wasn't sure if she had fallen down a rabbit hole into a strange new world where they wash out tongues in vinegar if you're not careful.

"How about we go around the back then? To the servant quarters," suggested Sybil. "There shouldn't be anyone about there at this time."

Mary groaned, but turned and led the way nonetheless. "Come on then. But if we so much as –"

She didn't get a chance to finish before the gang was sprinting past her, through the trees and on towards the great Downton Abbey, followed closely by both dogs.

OoOoO

The group of them sat hidden behind the wall of the Servant's Courtyard, playing, chatting and being dangerously loud.

While William, Daisy and Mary messed about with the dogs, Thomas, Gwen, Ethel and Edith were halfway through an extreme game of chasing. That left just Branson and Sybil, sitting in silence, backed against the wall.

"I heard what you said to Daisy," he said softly, without catching her eye.

She tilted her head slightly in confusion.

"About the doll. I heard you say she was going to be a doctor when she was older. After she became a princess, of course."

Sybil laughed, mostly to cover up her blushing cheeks. "Oh, that…"

"I know what you're saying. About women getting the jobs men do. Equality, and all that."

Sybil nodded soundly, pretending she knew what he meant by 'equality.'

But he sounded intelligent, and for some reason that attracted her to him.

"I like politics. Ever since my dad brought me to a big rally a few months ago," Branson continued.

"Oh, is he a politician?"

Branson eyebrows shot up. "Da? No, he works on the farms."

The others had finished their games and gathered around too.

"So are all your fathers farmers?" asked Edith.

Anna shook her head. "Not everyone's. Thomas' father is a clockmaker and Daisy's –"

"– He works for Charity," Daisy finished. Everyone exchanged bemused looks.

William just looked intrigued. "Really, Daisy?"

"Yep. That's where his wages come from, anyway. It's good of him, don't you think?"

No one had the chance to show Daisy the obvious flaw in her reasoning, not even Thomas, because suddenly a roar straight out of some evil fairytale sounded behind them. They spun around to find a young housemaid with dark ringlets, glaring down at them as though she had discovered the edge of the Earth.

"O'Brien," moaned all three girls.

.


End file.
